PRINCE 

OF 

PEACE 


THE  PRINCE  OF 
PEACE 


By 
WILLIAM 

JENNINGS 
BRYAN 


CHICAGO 

THE  REILLY  &  BRITTON  CO. 

PUBLISHERS 


Mr.  Bryan's  address,  "The 
Prince  of  Peace,"  is  not  copy- 
righted. This  edition,  however, 
is  published  with  Mr.  Bryan's 
permission,  and  its  form  and 
ornamentation  are  copyrighted 
by  the  publishers. 


Copyright,  1909 
The  Reilly  $  Britton  Co. 


Caslon  J3rces 
Chicago 


Stack 


THE   PRINCE 
OF  PEACE 


IL^  OFFER  no  apology  for  speaking  upon  a 
religious  theme,  for  it  is  the  most  universal 
of  all  themes.  If  I  addressed  you  upon  the 
subject  of  law  I  might  interest  the  lawyers; 
if  I  discussed  the  science  of  medicine  I 
might  interest  the  physicians;  in  like  man- 
ner merchants  might  be  interested  in  a  talk 
on  commerce,  and  farmers  in  a  discussion  on  agricul- 
ture; but  none  of  these  subjects  appeals  to  all.  Even  the  sci- 
ence of  government,  though  broader  than  any  profession  or 
occupation,  does  not  embrace  the  whole  sum  of  life,  and  those 
who  think  upon  it  differ  so  among  themselves  that  I  could  not 
speak  upon  the  subject  so  as  to  please  a  part  without  offending 
others.  While  to  me  the  science  of  government  is  intensely 
absorbing,  I  recognize  that  the  most  important  things  in  life 
lie  outside  of  the  realm  of  government  and  that  more  depends 
upon  what  the  individual  does  for  himself  than  upon  what  the 
government  does  or  can  do  for  him.  Men  can  be  miserable 
under  the  best  government  and  they  can  be  happy  under  the 
worst  government. 

Government  affects  but  a  part  of  the  life  which  we  live  here 
and  does  not  touch  at  all  the  life  beyond,  while  religion  touches 


THE    PRINCE    OF    PEACE 


T7- 


the  infinite  circle  of  existence  as  well  as  the  small  arc  of  that 
circle  which  we  spend  on  earth.  No  greater  theme,  therefore, 
can  engage  our  attention. 

Man  is  a  religious  being;  the  heart  instinctively  seeks  for  a 
God.  Whether  he  worships  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges,  prays 
with  his  face  upturned  to  the  sun,  kneels  toward  Mecca,  or, 
regarding  all  space  as  a  temple,  communes  with  the  Heavenly 
Father  according  to  the  Christian  creed,  man  is  essentially  de- 
vout. 

There  are  honest  doubters  whose  sincerity  we  recognize  and 
respect,  but  occasionally  I  find  young  men  who  think  it  smart 
to  be  skeptical;  they  talk  as  if  it  were  an  evidence  of  larger 
intelligence  to  scoff  at  creeds  and  refuse  to  connect  them- 
selves with  churches.  They  call  themselves  "liberal,"  as  if  a 
Christian  were  narrow  minded.  To  these  young  men  I  desire 
to  address  myself. 

Even  some  older  people  profess  to  regard  religion  as  a  super- 
stition, pardonable  in  the  ignorant,  but  unworthy  of  the  edu- 
cated—a mental  state  which  one  can  and  should  outgrow.  Those 
who  hold  this  view  look  down  with  mild  contempt  upon  such 
as  give  to  religion  a  definite  place  in  their  thoughts  and  lives. 
They  assume  an  intellectual  superiority  and  often  take  little 
pains  to  conceal  the  assumption.  Tolstoy  administers  to  the 
"cultured  crowd"  (the  words  quoted  are  his)  a  severe  rebuke 
when  he  declares  that  the  religious  sentiment  rests  not  upon 
a  superstitious  fear  of  the  invisible  forces  of  nature,  but  upon 
man's  consciousness  of  his  finiteness  amid  an  infinite  universe 
and  of  his  sinf  ulness ;  and  this  consciousness,  the  great  philoso- 
pher adds,  man  can  never  outgrow.  Tolstoy  is  right;  man 
recognizes  how  limited  are  his  own  powers  and  how  vast  is  the 
universe,  and  he  leans  upon  the  arm  that  is  stronger  than  his. 


THE     PRINCE     OF     PEACE 


Man  feels  the  weight  of  his  sins  and  looks  for  One  who  is 
sinless. 


RELIGION  has  been  defined  as  the  relation  which  man 
fixes  between  himself  and  his  God,  and  morality  as  the 
outward  manifestation  of  this  relation.  Every  one, 
by  the  time  he  reaches  maturity,  has  fixed  some  relation  be- 
tween himself  and  God,  and  no  material  change  in  this  rela- 
tion can  take  place  without  a  revolution  in  the  man,  for  this 
relation  is  the  most  potent  influence  that  acts  upon  a  human 
life. 

Religion  is  the  basis  of  morality  in  the  individual  and  in  the 
group  of  individuals.  Materialists  have  attempted  to  build  up 
a  system  of  morality  upon  the  basis  of  enlightened  self-interest. 
They  would  have  man  figure  out  by  mathematics  that  it  pays 
him  to  abstain  from  wrongdong;  they  would  even  inject  an 
element  of  selfishness  into  altruism;  but  the  moral  system  elab- 
orated by  the  materialists  has  several  defects.  First,  its  virtues 
are  borrowed  from  moral  systems  based  upon  religion ;  second, 
as  it  rests  upon  argument  rather  than  upon  authority,  it  does 
not  appeal  to  the  young,  and  by  the  time  the  young  are  able 
to  follow  their  reason  they  have  already  become  set  in  their 
ways.  Our  laws  do  not  permit  a  young  man  to  dispose  of  real 
estate  until  he  is  twenty-one.  Why  this  restraint?  Because  his 
reason  is  not  mature;  and  yet  a  man's  life  is  largely  molded 
by  the  environment  of  his  youth.  Third,  one  never  knows  just 
how  much  of  his  decision  is  due  to  reason  and  how  much  is  due 
to  passion  or  to  selfish  interest.  We  recognize  the  bias  of 
self-interest  when  we  exclude-  from  the  jury  every  man,  no 
matter  how  reasonable  or  upright  he  may  be,  who  has  a 


THE     PRINCE     OF     PEACE 


pecuniary  interest  in  the  result  of  the  trial.  And,  fourth,  one 
whose  morality  is  based  upon  a  nice  calculation  of  benefits  to 
be  secured  spends  time  figuring  that  he  should  spend  in 
action.  Those  who  keep  a  book  account  of  their  good  deeds 
seldom  do  enough  good  to  justify  keeping  books. 


MORALITY  is  the  power  of  endurance  in  man;  and  a 
religion  which  teaches  personal  responsibility  to  God 
gives  strength  to  morality.  There  is  a  powerful  re- 
straining influence  in  the  belief  that  an  all-seeing  eye  scru- 
tinizes every  thought  and  word  and  act  of  the  individual. 

There  is  a  wide  difference  between  the  man  who  is  try- 
ing to  conform  to  a  standard  of  morality  about  him  and  the 
man  who  is  endeavoring  to  make  his  life  approximate  to  a 
divine  standard.  The  former  attempts  to  live  up  to  the  stan- 
dard if  it  is  above  him  and  down  to  it  if  it  is  below  him — 
and  if  he  is  doing  right  only  when  others  are  looking  he  is 
sure  to  find  a  time  when  he  thinks  he  is  unobserved,  and 
then  he  takes  a  vacation  and  falls.  One  needs  the  inner 
strength  which  comes  with  the  conscious  presence  of  a  per- 
sonal God.  If  those  who  are  thus  fortified  sometimes  yield 
to  temptation,  how  helpless  and  hopeless  must  those  be  who 
rely  upon  their  own  strength  alone! 

There  are  difficulties  to  be  encountered  in  religion,  but 
there  are  difficulties  to  be  encountered  everywhere.  I  passed 
through  a  period  of  skepticism  when  I  was  in  college  and  I 
have  been  glad  ever  since  that  I  became  a  member  of  the 
church  before  I  left  home  for  college,  for  it  helped  me  during 
those  trying  days.  The  college  days  cover  the  dangerous 
period  in  the  young  man's  life;  it  is  when  he  is  just  coming 


THE     PRINCE     OF     PEACE 

Af 

into  possession  of  his  powers — when  he  feels  stronger  than 
he  ever  feels  afterward  and  thinks  he  knows  more  than  he 
ever  does  know. 

It  was  at  this  period  that  I  was  confused  by  the  different 
theories  of  creation.  But  I  examined  these  theories  and 
found  that  they  all  assumed  something  to  begin  with.  The 
nebular  hypothesis,  for  instance,  assumes  that  matter  and 
force  existed— matter  in  particles  infinitely  fine  and  each  par- 
ticle separated  from  every  other  particle  by  space  infinitely 
great.  Beginning  with  this  assumption,  force  working  on 
matter — according  to  this  hypothesis — creates  a  universe. 
Well,  I  have  a  right  to  assume,  and  I  prefer  to  assume 
a  Designer  back  of  the  design — a  Creator  back  of  creation; 
and  no  matter  how  long  you  draw  out  the  process  of  creation, 
so  long  as  God  stands  back  of  it,  you  cannot  shake  my  faith 
in  Jehovah.  In  Genesis  it  is  written  that,  in  the  beginning, 
God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  and  I  can  stand  on 
that  proposition  until  I  find  some  theory  of  creation  that  goes 
further  back  than  "the  beginning." 

I  do  not  carry  the  doctrine  of  evolution  as  far  as  some  do; 
I  have  not  yet  been  able  to  convince  myself  that  man  is  a 
lineal  descendant  of  the  lower  animals.  I  do  not  mean  to 
find  fault  with  you  if  you  want  to  accept  it;  all  I  mean  to 
say  is  that  while  you  may  trace  your  ancestry  back  to  the 
monkey  if  you  find  pleasure  or  pride  in  doing  so,  you  shall 
not  connect  me  with  your  family  tree  without  more  evidence 
than  has  yet  been  produced.  It  is  true  that  man,  in  some 
physical  qualities,  resembles  the  beast,  but  man  has  a  mind 
as  well  as  a  body  and  a  soul  as  well  as  a  mind.  The  mind 
is  greater  than  the  body  and  the  soul  is  greater  than  the 
mind,  and  I  object  to  having  man's  pedigree  traced  on  one- 


THE     PRINCE     OF    PEACE 


I 


third  of  him  only— and  that  the  lowest  third.  Fairbairn 
lays  down  a  sound  proposition  when  he  says  that  it  is  not 
sufficient  to  explain  man  as  an  animal;  it  is  necessary  to  ex- 
plain man  in  history — and  the  Darwinian  theory  does  not  do 
this.  The  ape,  according  to  this  theory,  is  older  than  man, 
and  yet  he  is  still  an  ape,  while  man  is  the  author  of  the 
marvelous  civilization  which  we  see  about  us. 


ONE  does  not  escape  from  mystery,  however,  by  ac- 
cepting this  theory,  for  it  does  not  explain  the  origin 
of  life.  When  the  follower  of  Darwin  has  traced  the 
germ  of  life  back  to  the  lowest  form  in  which  it  appears — 
and  to  follow  him  one  must  exercise  more  faith  than  religion 
calls  for— he  finds  that  scientists  differ.  Some  believe  that 
the  first  germ  of  life  came  from  another  planet  and  others 
hold  that  it  was  the  result  of  spontaneous  generation. 

If  I  were  compelled  to  accept  one  of  these  theories  I  would 
prefer  the  first,  for  if  we  can  chase  the  germ  of  life  off  this 
planet  and  get  it  out  into  space  we  can  guess  the  rest  of  the 
way  and  no  one  can  contradict  us;  but  if  we  accept  the 
doctrine  of  spontaneous  generation  we  cannot  explain  why 
spontaneous  generation  ceased  to  act  after  the  first  germ  was 
created. 

Go  back  as  far  as  we  may,  we  cannot  escape  from  the 
creative  act,  and  it  is  just  as  easy  for  me  to  believe  that  God 
created  man  as  he  is  as  to  believe  that,  millions  of  years  ago, 
He  created  a  germ  of  life  and  endowed  it  with  power  to 
develop  into  all  that  we  see  today.  But  I  object  to  the  Dar- 
winian theory  until  more  conclusive  proof  is  produced,  be- 
cause I  fear  we  shall  lose  the  consciousness  of  God's  presence 


THE    PRINCE    OF    PEACE 


in  our  daily  life,  if  we  must  assume  that  through  all  the  ages 
no  spiritual  force  has  touched  the  life  of  man  or  shaped 
the  destiny  of  nations.  But  there  is  another  objection.  The 
Darwinian  theory  represents  man  as  reaching  his  present  per- 
fection by  the  operation  of  the  law  of  hate— the  merciless 
law  by  which  the  strong  crowd  out  and  kill  off  the  weak. 
If  this  is  the  law  of  our  development,  then,  if  there  is  any 
logic  that  can  bind  the  human  mind,  we  shall  turn  backward 
toward  the  beast  in  proportion  as  we  substitute  the  law  of 
love.  How  can  hatred  be  the  law  of  development  when  na- 
tions have  advanced  in  proportion  as  they  have  departed 
from  that  law  and  adopted  the  law  of  lovet 

But  while  I  do  not  accept  the  Darwinian  theory,  I  shall 
not  quarrel  with  you  about  it;  I  only  refer  to  it  to  remind 
you  that  it  does  not  solve  the  mystery  of  life  or  explain 
human  progress.  I  fear  that  some  have  accepted  it  in  the 
hope  of  escaping  from  the  miracle,  but  why  should  the  mir- 
acle frighten  ust  It  bothered  me  once,  and  I  am  inclined 
to  think  that  it  is  one  of  the  test  questions  with  the  Christian. 


CHRIST  cannot  be  separated  from  the  miraculous;  His 
birth,  His  ministrations  and  His  resurrection,  all  in- 
volve the  miraculous,  and   the  change  which   His  re- 
ligion  works  in   the  human  heart  is   a   continuing   miracle. 
Eliminate  the  miracles  and  Christ  becomes  merely  a  human 
being  and  His  gospel  is  stripped  of  divine  authority. 

The  miracle  raises  two  questions:  "Can  God  perform  a 
miracle  1"  and,  "Would  He  want  to?"  The  first  is  easy  to 
answer.  A  God  who  can  make  a  world  can  do  anything  He 
wants  to  do  with  it.  The  power  to  perform  miracles  is  neces- 


THE     PRINCE     OF    PEACE 


sarily  implied  in  the  power  to  create.  But  would  God  want 
to  perform  a  miracle? — this  is  the  question  which  has 
given  most  of  the  trouble.  The  more  I  have  considered  it 
the  less  inclined  I  am  to  answer  in  the  negative.  To  say  that 
God  would  not  perform  a  miracle  is  to  assume  a  more  inti- 
mate knowledge  of  God's  plans  and  purposes  than  I  can 
claim  to  have.  I  will  not  deny  that  God  does  perform  a 
miracle  or  may  perform  one  merely  because  I  do  not  know 
how  or  why  He  does  it.  The  fact  that  we  are  constantly 
learning  of  the  existence  of  new  forces  suggests  the  possi- 
bility that  God  may  operate  through  forces  yet  unknown  to 
us,  and  the  mysteries  with  which  we  deal  every  day  warn 
me  that  faith  is  as  necessary  as  sight.  Who  would  have 
credited  a  century  ago  the  stories  that  are  now  told  of  the 
wonder  working  electricity1?  For  ages  man  had  known  the 
lightning,  but  only  to  fear  it;  now  this  invisible  current 
is  generated  by  a  man-made  machine,  imprisoned  in  a  man- 
made  wire  and  made  to  do  the  bidding  of  man.  We  are 
even  able  to  dispense  with  the  wire  and  hurl  words  through 
space,  and  the  X-ray  has  enabled  us  to  look  through  sub- 
stances which  were  supposed,  until  recently,  to  exclude  all 
light.  The  miracle  is  not  more  mysterious  than  many  of  the 
things  with  which  man  now  deals— it  is  simply  different. 
The  immaculate  conception  is  not  more  mysterious  than  any 
other  conception — it  is  simply  unlike;  nor  is  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Christ  more  mysterious  than  the  myriad  resurrections 
which  mark  each  annual  seed-time. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  God  could  not  suspend  one  of 
His  laws  without  stopping  the  universe,  but  do  we  not 
suspend  or  overcome  the  law  of  gravitation  every  day?  Ev- 


THE     PRINCE     OF    PEACE 


ery  time  we  move  a  foot  or  lift  a  weight,  we  temporarily 
interfere  with  the  operation  of  the  most  universal  of  natural 
laws,  and  yet  the  world  is  not  disturbed. 

.  •  J 

/*  ^ 


SCIENCE  has  taught  us  so  many  things  that  we  are 
temped  to  conclude  that  we  know  everything,  but  there 
is  really  a  great  unknown  which  is  still  unexplored,  and 
that  which  we  have  learned  ought  to  increase  our  reverence 
rather  than  our  egotism.  Science  has  disclosed  some  of  the 
machinery  of  the  universe,  but  science  has  not  yet  revealed 
to  us  the  great  secret—  the  secret  of  life.  It  is  to  be  found 
in  every  blade  of  grass,  in  every  insect,  in  every  bird  and 
in  every  animal,  as  well  as  in  man.  Six  thousand  years  of 
recorded  history,  and  yet  we  know  no  more  about  the  secret 
of  life  than  they  knew  in  the  beginning.  We  live,  we  plan; 
we  have  our  hopes,  our  fears;  and  yet  in  a  moment  a  change 
may  come  over  any  one  of  us  and  this  body  will  become  a 
mass  of  lifeless  clay.  What  is  it  that,  having,  we  live  and, 
having  not,  we  are  as  the  clod?  We  know  not;  and  yet  the 
progress  of  the  race  and  the  civilization  which  we  now  be- 
hold are  the  work  of  men  and  women  who  have  not  solved 
the  mystery  of  their  own  lives. 


Pood,  must  we  understand  it  before  we  eat  itt 
If  we  refused  to  eat  anything  until  we  could  under- 
stand the  mystery  of  its  growth,  we  should  die  of 
starvation.  But  mystery  does  not  bother  us  in  the  dining 
room;  it  is  only  in  the  church  that  it  is  an  obstacle. 


THE    PRINCE    OF    PEACE 


I  was  eating  a  piece  of  watermelon  some  months  ago  and 
was  struck  with  its  beauty.  I  took  some  of  the  seed  and 
dried  them  and  weighed  them,  and  found  that  it  would  re- 
quire some  five  thousand  seed  to  weigh  a  pound.  And  then 
I  applied  mathematics  to  that  forty-pound  melon.  One  of 
these  seeds,  put  into  the  ground,  when  warmed  by  the  sun 
and  moistened  by  the  rain,  goes  to  work;  it  gathers  from 
somewhere  two  hundred  thousand  times  its  own  weight  and, 
forcing  this  raw  material  through  a  tiny  stem,  constructs  a 
watermelon.  It  covers  the  outside  with  a  coating  of  green; 
inside  of  the  green  it  puts  a  layer  of  white,  and  within  the 
white  a  core  of  red,  and  all  through  the  red  it  scatters 
seeds,  each  one  capable  of  continuing  the  work  of  reproduc- 
tion. Where  did  that  little  seed  get  its  tremendous  power? 
Where  did  it  find  its  coloring  matter?  How  did  it  collect 
its  flavoring  extract?  How  did  it  build  a  watermelon?  Until 
you  can  explain  a  watermelon,  do  not  be  too  sure  that  you 
can  set  limits  to  the  power  of  the  Almighty  or  say  just  what 
He  would  do  or  how  He  would  do  it.  I  cannot  explain  the 
watermelon,  but  I  eat  it  and  enjoy  it. 

Everything  that  grows  tells  a  like  story  of  infinite  power. 
Why  should  I  deny  that  a  divine  hand  fed  a  multitude  with 
a  few  loaves  and  fishes  when  I  see  hundreds  of  millions  fed 
every  year  by  a  hand  which  converts  the  seeds  scattered  over 
the  field  into  an  abundant  harvest?  We  know  that  food 
can  be  multiplied  in  a  few  months'  time;  shall  we  deny  the 
power  of  the  Creator  to  eliminate  the  element  of  time,  when 
we  have  gone  so  far  in  eliminating  the  element  of  space? 


THE     PRINCE     OF    PEACE 


BUT  there  is  something  even  more  wonderful  still— the 
mysterious  change  that  takes  place  in  the  human  heart 
when  the  man  begins  to  hate  the  things  he  loved  and 
to  love  the  things  he  hated — the  marvelous  transformation 
that  takes  place  in  the  man  who,  before  the  change,  would 
have  sacrificed  the  world  for  his  own  advancement,  but  who, 
after  the  change,  would  give  his  life  for  a  principle  and 
esteem  it  a  privilege  to  make  sacrifice  for  his  convictions. 
What  greater  miracle  than  this,  that  converts  a  selfish,  self- 
centered  human  being  into  a  center  from  which  good  influ- 
ences flow  out  in  every  direction!  And  yet  this  miracle  has 
been  wrought  in  the  heart  of  each  one  of  us— or  may  be 
wrought— and  we  have  seen  it  wrought  in  the  hearts  of  those 
about  us.  No,  living  in  the  midst  of  mystery  and  miracles,  I 
shall  not  allow  either  to  deprive  me  of  the  benefits  of  the 
Christian  religion. 

Some  of  those  who  question  the  miracle  also  question  the 
theory  of  atonement;  they  assert  that  it  does  not  accord  with 
their  idea  of  justice  for  one  to  die  for  others.  Let  each 
one  bear  his  own  sins  and  the  punishments  due  for  them, 
they  say.  The  doctrine  of  vicarious  suffering  is  not  a  new 
one;  it  is  as  old  as  the  race.  That  one  should  suffer  for 
others  is  one  of  the  most  familiar  principles,  and  we  see 
the  principle  illustrated  every  day  of  our  lives.  Take  the 
family,  for  instance;  from  the  day  the  mother's  first  child  is 
born,  for  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  they  are  scarcely  out 
of  her  waking  thoughts.  She  sacrifices  for  them,  she  sur- 
renders herself  to  them.  Is  it  because  she  expects  them  to 
pay  her  back?  Fortunate  for  the  parent  and  fortunate 
for  the  child  if  the  latter  has  an  opportunity  to  repay  in 
part  the  debt  it  owes.  But  no  child  can  compensate  a  parent 


*  W  ^-fetr*  "in 

17 


THE     PRINCE     OF     PEACE 


for  a  parent's  care.  In  the  course  of  nature  the  debt  is 
paid,  not  to  the  parent,  but  to  the  next  generation,  each 
generation  suffering  and  sacrificing  for  the  one  following. 

Nor  is  this  confined  to  the  family.  Every  step  in  advance 
has  been  made  possible  by  those  who  have  been  willing  to  sac- 
rifice for  posterity.  Freedom  of  speech,  freedom  of  the  press, 
freedom  of  conscience  and  free  government  have  all  been  won 
for  the  world  by  those  who  were  willing  to  make  sacrifices 
for  their  fellows.  So  well  established  is  this  doctrine  that 
we  do  not  regard  any  one  as  great  unless  he  recognizes  how 
unimportant  his  life  is  in  comparison  with  the  problems  with 
which  he  deals. 

I  find  proof  that  man  was  made  in  the  image  of  his  Creator 
in  the  fact  that,  throughout  the  centuries,  man  has  been  will- 
ing to  die  that  blessings  denied  to  him  might  be  enjoyed  by 
his  children,  his  children's  children  and  the  world. 

The  seeming  paradox:  "He  that  saveth  his  life  shall  lose 
it  and  he  that  loseth  his  life  for  my  sake  shall  find  it,"  has 
an  application  wider  than  that  usually  given  to  it ;  it  is  an  epit- 
ome of  history.  Those  who  live  only  for  themselves  live 
little  lives,  but  those  who  give  themselves  for  the  advance- 
ment of  things  greater  than  themselves  find  a  larger  life  than 
the  one  surrendered.  Wendell  Phillips  gave  expression  to 
the  same  idea  when  he  said:  "How  prudently  most  men  sink 
into  nameless  graves,  while  now  and  then  a  few  forget  them- 
selves into  immortality." 

Instead  of  being  an  unnatural  plan,  the  plan  of  salvation 
is  in  perfect  harmony  with  human  nature  as  we  understand 
it.  Sacrifice  is  the  language  of  love,  and  Christ,  in  suffer- 
ing for  the  world,  adopted  the  only  means  of  reaching  the 
heart,  and  this  can  be  demonstrated  not  only  by  theory, 


' — ' T'^y^nt 

THE     PRINCE     OF    PEACE 


but  by  experience,  for  the  story  of  His  life,  His  teachings, 
His  sufferings  and  His  death  has  been  translated  into  every 
language  and  everywhere  it  has  touched  the  heart. 

But  if  I  were  going  to  present  an  argument  in  favor  of 
the  divinity  of  Christ,  I  would  not  begin  with  miracles  or 
mystery  or  theory  of  atonement.  I  would  begin  as  Carnegie 
Simpson  begins  in  his  book  entitled  "The  Fact  of  Christ." 
Commencing  with  the  fact  that  Christ  lived,  he  points  out 
that  one  cannot  contemplate  this  undisputed  fact  without 
feeling  that  in  some  way  this  fact  is  related  to  those  now  liv- 
ing. He  says  that  one  can  read  of  Alexander,  of  Ca3sar  or 
of  Napoleon,  and  not  feel  that  it  is  a  matter  of  personal 
concern;  but  that  when  one  reads  how  Christ  lived  and 
how  he  died  he  feels  that  somehow  there  is  a  chord  that 
stretches  from  that  life  to  his.  As  he  studies  the  character 
of  Christ  he  becomes  conscious  of  certain  virtues  which 
stand  out  in  bold  relief — purity,  humility,  a  forgiving  spirit 
and  an  unfathomable  love.  The  author  is  correct.  Christ 
presents  an  example  of  purity  in  thought  and  life,  and  man, 
conscious  of  his  own  imperfections  and  grieved  over  his 
shortcomings,  finds  inspiration  in  One  who  was  tempted  in 
all  points  like  las  we  are,  and  yet  without  sin.  I  am  not 
sure  but  that  we  can  find  just  here  a  way  of  determining 
whether  one  possesses  the  true  spirit  of  a  Christian.  If  he 
finds  in  the  sinlessness  of  Christ  an  inspiration  and  a  stimulus 
to  greater  effort  and  higher  living,  he  is  indeed  a  follower; 
if,  on  the  other  hand,  he  resents  the  reproof  which  the  purity 
of  Christ  offers,  he  is  likely  to  question  the  divinity  of  Christ 
in  order  to  excuse  himself  for  not  being  a  follower. 


ings. 


THE    PRINCE    OF    PEACE 


HUMILITY  is  a  rare  virtue.     If  one  is  rich  he  is  apt 
to  be  proud  of  his  riches;  if  he  has  distinguished 
ancestry,  he  is  apt  to  be  proud  of  his  lineage;  if  he 
is  well  educated,  he  is  apt  to  be  proud  of  his  learning.    Some 
one  has  suggested  that  if  one  becomes  humble  he  soon  be- 
comes proud  of  his  humility.     Christ,  however,  possessed  of 
all  power,  was  the  very  personification  of  humility. 

The  most  difficult  of  all  the  virtues  to  cultivate  is  the  for- 
giving spirit.  Revenge  seems  to  be  natural  to  the  human 
heart;  to  want  to  get  even  with  an  enemy  is  a  common  sin. 
It  has  even  been  popular  to  boast  of  vindictiveness ;  it  was 
once  inscribed  on  a  monument  to  a  hero  that  he  had  repaid 
both  friends  and  enemies  more  than  he  had  received.  This 
was  not  the  spirit  of  Christ.  He  taught  forgiveness;  and  in 
that  incomparable  prayer  which  He  left  as  a  model  for  our 
petitions  He  made  our  willingness  to  forgive  the  measure 
by  which  we  may  claim  forgiveness.  He  not  only  taught 
forgiveness,  but  He  exemplified  His  teachings  in  His  life. 
When  those  who  persecuted  Him  brought  Him  to  the  most 
disgraceful  of  all  deaths,  His  spirit  of  forgiveness  rose  above 
His  sufferings  and  He  prayed,  "Father,  forgive  them,  for 
they  know  not  what  they  do  I" 

But  love  is  the  foundation  of  Christ's  creed.  The  world 
had  known  love  before;  parents  had  loved  children,  and 
children  parents;  husband  had  loved  wife,  and  wife  husband; 
and  friend  had  loved  friend;  but  Jesus  gave  a  new  definition 
of  love.  His  love  was  as  boundless  as  the  sea;  its  limits 
were  so  far-flung  that  even  an  enemy  could  not  travel  be- 
yond it.  Other  teachers  sought  to  regulate  the  lives  of  their 
followers  by  rule  and  formula,  but  Christ's  plan  was,  first 


THE     PRINCE    OF    PEACE 


purify   the  heart  and   then  to  leave  love  to  direct  the 
footsteps. 

WHAT  conclusion  is  to  be  drawn  from  the  life,  the 
teachings   and   the    depth   of   this   historic   figure  t 


Reared  in  a  carpenter  shop;  with  no  knowledge  of 
literature,  save  Bible  literature;  with  no  acquaintance  with 
philosophers  living  or  with  the  writings  of  sages  dead, 
this  young  man  gathered  disciples  about  Him,  promulgated 
a  higher  code  of  morals  than  the  world  had  ever  known 
before,  and  proclaimed  Himself  the  Messiah.  He  taught 
and  performed  miracles  for  a  few  brief  months  and  then 
was  crucified;  His  disciples  were  scattered  and  many  of  them 
put  to  death ;  His  claims  were  disputed,  His  resurrection  denied 
and  His  followers  persecuted,  and  yet  from  this  beginning 
His  religion  has  spread  until  millions  take  His  name  with 
reverence  upon  their  lips  and  thousands  have  been  willing 
to  die  rather  than  surrender  the  faith  which  he  put  into  their 
hearts.  How  shall  we  account  for  Himt  "What  think  ye 
of  Christ?"  It  is  easier  to  believe  Him  divine  than  to  ex- 
plain in  any  other  way  what  He  said  and  did  and  was.  And 
I  have  greater  faith  even  than  before  since  I  have  visited  the 
Orient  and  witnessed  the  successful  contest  which  Christianity 
is  waging  against  the  religions  and  philosophies  of  the  East. 

I  was  thinking  a  few  years  ago  of  the  Christmas  which 
was  then  approaching  and  of  Him  in  whose  honor  the  day 
is  celebrated.  I  recalled  the  message,  Peace  on  earth,  good 
will  to  men,  and  then  my  thoughts  ran  back  to  the  prophecy 
uttered  centuries  before  His  birth,  in  which  He  was  de- 
scribed as  the  Prince  of  Peace.  To  reinforce  my  memory 
I  re-read  the  prophecy  and  found  immediately  following  a 


THE     PRINCE     OF     PEACE 


verse  which  I  had  forgotten— a  verse  which  declares  that  of 
the  increase  of  His  peace  and  government  there  shall  be  no 
end,  for,  adds  Isaiah,  "He  shall  judge  His  people  with  justice 
and  with  judgment."  Thinking  of  the  prophecy,  I  have  se- 
lected this  theme  that  I  may  present  some  of  the  reasons 
which  lead  me  to  believe  that  Christ  has  fully  earned  the 
title,  The  Prince  of  Peace,  and  that  in  the  years  to  come  it 
will  be  more  and  more  applied  to  Hun.  Faith  in  Him  brings 
peace  to  the  heart  and  His  teachings,  when  applied,  will 
bring  peace  between  man  and  man.  And  if  He  can  bring 
peace  to  each  heart,  and  if  His  creed  will  bring  peace 
throughout  the  earth,  who  will  deny  His  right  to  be  called 
The  Prince  of  Peace? 


ALL  the  world  is  in  search  of  peace;  every  heart  that 
ever  beat  has  sought  for  peace  and  many  have  been 
the  methods  employed  to  secure  it.  Some  have 
thought  to  purchase  it  with  riches  and  they  have  la- 
bored to  secure  wealth,  hoping  to  find  peace  when  they  were 
able  to  go  where  they  pleased  and  buy  what  they  liked. 
Of  those  who  have  endeavored  to  purchase  peace  with 
money,  the  large  majority  have  failed  to  secure  the  money. 
But  what  has  been  the  experience  of  those  who  have  been 
successful  in  accumulating  money?  They  all  tell  the  same 
story — viz.,  that  they  spent  the  first  half  of  their  lives  trying 
to  get  money  from  others  and  the  last  half  trying  to  keep 
others  from  getting  their  money,  and  that  they  found  peace 
in  neither  half.  Some  have  even  reached  the  point  where 
they  find  difficulty  in  getting  people  to  accept  their  money; 
and  I  know  of  no  better  indication  of  the  ethical  awakening 
in  this  country  than  the  increasing  tendency  to  scrutinize 


THE     PRINCE     OF    PEACE 


the  methods  of  money  making.  A  long  step  in  advance  will 
have  been  taken  when  religious,  educational  and  charitable 
institutions  refuse  to  condone  immoral  methods  in  business 
and  leave  the  possessor  of  ill-gotten  gains  to  learn  the  lone- 
liness of  life  when  one  prefers  money  to  morals. 

Some  have  sought  peace  in  social  distinction,  but  whether 
they  have  been  within  the  charmed  circle  and  fearful  lest 
they  might  fall  out,  or  outside  and  hopeful  that  they  might 
get  in,  they  have  not  found  peace. 

Some  have  thought— vain  thought!— to  find  peace  in  polit- 
ical prominence;  but  whether  office  comes  by  birth,  as  in 
monarchies,  or  by  election,  as  in  republics,  it  does  not  bring 
peace.  An  office  is  conspicuous  only  when  few  can  occupy 
it.  Only  when  few  in  a  generation  can  hope  to  enjoy  an 
honor  do  we  call  it  a  great  honor.  I  am  glad  that  our 
Heavenly  Father  did  not  make  the  peace  of  the  human  heart 
depend  upon  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  or  upon  the  securing 
of  social  or  political  distinction,  for  in  either  case  but  few 
could  have  enjoyed  it,  but  when  He  made  peace  the  reward 
of  a  conscience  void  of  offense  toward  God  and  man,  He  put 
it  within  reach  of  all.  The  poor  can  secure  it  as  easily 
as  the  rich,  the  social  outcast  as  freely  as  the  leader  of  so- 
ciety, and  the  humblest  citizen  equally  with  those  who  wield 
political  power. 

To  those  who  have  grown  gray  in  the  faith  I  need  not 
speak  of  the  peace  to  be  found  in  the  belief  in  an  overruling 
Providence.  Christ  taught  that  our  lives  are  precious  in  the 
sight  of  God,  and  poets  have  taken  up  the  theme  and  woven 
it  into  immortal  verse.  No  uninspired  writer  has  expressed 
the  idea  more  beautifully  than  William  Cullen  Bryant  in 
the  Ode  to  a  Waterfowl.  After  following  the  wanderings 


THE     PRINCE    OF    PEACE 


of  the  bird  of  passage  as  it  seeks  first  its  northern  and  then 
its  southern  home,  he  concludes: 

Thou  art  gone;  the  abyss  of  heaven 

Hath  swallowed  up  thy  form,  but  on  my  heart 
Deeply  hath  sunk  the  lesson  thou  hast  given, 

And  shall  not  soon  depart. 

He  who,  from  zone  to  zone, 

Guides  through  the  boundless  sky  thy  certain  flight, 
In  the  long  way  that  I  must  tread  alone, 

Will  lead  my  steps  aright. 

CHRIST   promoted   peace   by   giving  us   assurance  that 
a   line   of   communication  can   be  established   between 
the  Father  above  and  the  child  below.     And  who  will 
measure     the      consolation      that     has     been     brought     to 
troubled  hearts  by  the  hour  of  prayer1? 

And  immortality!  Who  will  estimate  the  peace  which  a 
belief  in  a  future  life  has  brought  to  the  sorrowing!  You 
may  talk  to  the  young  about  death  ending  all,  for  life  is  full 
and  hope  is  strong,  but  preach  not  this  doctrine  to  the  mother 
who  stands  by  the  deathbed  of  her  babe  or  to  one  who  is 
within  the  shadow  of  a  great  affliction.  When  I  was  a 
young  man  I  wrote  to  Colonel  Ingersoll  and  asked  him  for 
his  views  on  God  and  immortality.  His  secretary  answered 
that  the  great  infidel  was  not  at  home,  but  inclosed  a  copy 
of  a  speech  which  covered  my  question.  I  scanned  it  with 
eagerness  and  found  that  he  had  expressed  himself  about 
as  follows:  "I  do  not  say  that  there  is  no  God,  I  simply 
say  I  do  not  know.  I  do  not  say  that  there  is  no  life  beyond 


THE    PRINCE    OF    PEACE 


the  grave,  I  simply  say  I  do  not  know."  And  from  that  day 
to  this  I  have  not  been  able  to  understand  how  any  one 
could  find  pleasure  in  taking  from  any  human  heart  a  liv- 
ing faith  and  substituting  therefor  the  cold  and  cheerless 
doctrine,  "I  do  not  know." 


CHRIST  gave  us  proof  of  immortality,  and  yet  it  would 
hardly  seem  necessary  that  one  should  rise  from  the 
dead  to  convince  us  that  the  grave  Is  not  the  end. 
To  every  created  thing  God  has  given  a  tongue  that 
proclaims  a  resurrection. 

If  the  Father  deigns  to  touch  with  divine  power  the  cold 
and  pulseless  heart  of  the  buried  acorn  and  to  make  it 
burst  forth  from  its  prison  walls,  will  He  leave  neglected 
in  the  earth  the  soul  of  man,  made  in  the  image  of  his 
Creator?  If  He  stoops  to  give  to  the  rosebush,  whose  with- 
ered blossoms  float  upon  the  autumn  breeze,  the  sweet  as- 
surance of  another  springtime,  will  He  refuse  the  words  of 
hope  to  the  sons  of  men  when  the  frosts  of  winter  comet 
If  matter,  mute  and  inanimate,  though  changed  by  the  forces 
of  nature  into  a  multitude  of  forms,  can  never  die,  will  the 
spirit  of  man  suffer  annihilation  when  it  has  paid  a  brief 
visit  like  a  royal  guest  to  this  tenement  of  clayt  No,  I  am  as 
sure  that  there  is  another  life  as  I  am  that  I  live  today ! 

In  Cairo  I  secured  a  few  grains  of  wheat  that  had  slum- 
bered for  more  than  three  thousand  years  in  an  Egyptian 
tomb.  As  I  looked  at  them  this  thought  came  into  my  mind: 
If  one  of  those  grains  had  been  planted  on  the  banks  of  the 
Nile  the  year  after  it  grew,  and  all  its  lineal  descendants 
planted  and  replanted  from  that  time  until  now,  its  progeny 
would  today  be  sufficiently  numerous  to  feed  the  teeming 


THE     PRINCE     OF     PEACE 


millions  of  the  world.  There  is  in  the  grain  of  wheat  an 
invisible  something  which  has  power  to  discard  the  body 
that  we  see,  and  from  earth  and  air  fashion  a  new  body  so 
much  like  the  old  one  that  we  cannot  tell  the  one  from  the 
other.  If  this  invisible  germ  of  life  in  the  gram  of  wheat 
can  thus  pass  unimpaired  through  three  thousand  resurrec- 
tions, I  shall  not  doubt  that  my  soul  has  power  to  clothe 
itself  with  a  body  suited  to  its  new  existence  when  this 
earthly  frame  has  crumbled  into  dust. 

A  belief  in  immortality  not  only  consoles  the  individual, 
but  it  exerts  a  powerful  influence  in  bringing  peace  between 
individuals.  If  one  really  thinks  that  man  dies  as  the  brute 
dies,  he  may  yield  to  the  temptation  to  do  injustice  to  his 
neighbor  when  the  circumstances  are  such  as  to  promise 
security  from  detection.  But  if  one  really  expects  to  meet 
again  and  live  eternally  with  those  whom  he  knows  today, 
he  is  restrained  from  evil  deeds  by  the  fear  of  endless  re- 
morse. We  do  not  know  what  rewards  are  in  store  for  us 
or  what  punishments  may  be  reserved,  but  if  there  were  no 
other  punishment  it  would  be  enough  for  one  who  deliber- 
ately and  consciously  wrongs  another  to  have  to  live  forever 
in  the  company  of  the  person  wronged  and  have  his  b'ttle- 
ness  and  selfishness  laid  bare.  I  repeat,  a  belief  in  immor- 
tality must  exert  a  powerful  influence  in  establishing  justice 
between  men  and  thus  laying  the  foundation  for  peace. 

Again,  Christ  deserves  to  be  called  the  Prince  of  Peace 
because  He  has  given  us  a  measure  of  greatness  which  pro- 
motes peace.  When  His  disciples  disputed  among  them- 
selves as  to  which  should  be  greatest  in  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven,  he  rebuked  them  and  said :  "Let  him  who  would  be 
chiefest  among  you  be  the  servant  of  all."  Service  is  the 


THE     PRINCE     OF     PEACE 


measure  of  greatness;  it  always  has  been  true;  it  is  true 
today,  and  it  always  will  be  true,  that  he  is  greatest  who  does 
the  most  of  good.  And  yet,  what  a  revolution  it  will  work 
in  this  old  world  when  this  standard  becomes  the  standard 
of  life.  Nearly  all  of  our  controversies  and  combats  arise 
from  the  fact  that  we  are  trying  to  get  something  from  each 
other— there  will  be  peace  when  our  aim  is  to  do  something  for 
each  other.  Our  enmities  and  animosities  arise  from  our  ef- 
forts to  get  as  much  as  possible  out  of  the  world— there  will 
be  peace  when  our  endeavor  is  to  put  as  much  as  possible 
into  the  world.  Society  will  take  an  immeasurable  step  to- 
ward peace  when  it  estimates  a  citizen  by  his  output  rather 
than  by  his  income  and  gives  the  crown  of  its  approval  to 
the  one  who  makes  the  largest  contribution  to  the  welfare 
of  all.  It  is  the  glory  of  the  Christian  ideal  that,  while  it 
is  within  sight  of  the  weakest  and  the  lowliest,  it  is  yet  so 
high  that  the  best  and  the  noblest  are  kept  with  their  faces 
turned  ever  upward. 

Christ  has  also  led  the  way  to  peace  by  giving  us  a  formula 
for  the  propagation  of  good.  Not  all  of  those  who  have  really 
desired  to  do  good  have  employed  the  Christian  method — 
not  all  Christians  even.  In  all  the  history  of  the  human 
race  but  two  methods  have  been  employed.  The  first  is  the 
forcible  method.  A  man  has  an  idea  which  he  thinks  is 
good;  he  tells  his  neighbors  about  it  and  they  do  not  like  it. 
This  makes  him  angry,  and  seizing  a  club,  he  attempts  to 
make  them  like  it.  One  trouble  about  this  rule  is  that  it 
works  both  ways;  when  a  man  starts  out  to  compel  his 
neighbors  to  think  as  he  does,  he  generally  finds  them  willing 
to  accept  the  challenge,  and  they  spend  so  much  time  in  try- 


THE    PRINCE    OF    PEACE 


ing  to  coerce  each  other  that  they  have  no  time  left  to  be  of 
service  to  each  other. 


THE  other  is  the  Bible  plan— be  not  overcome  of  evil, 
but  overcome  evil  with  good.  And  there  is  no  other 
way  of  overcoming  evil.  I  am  not  much  of  a  farmer 
— I  get  more  credit  for  my  farming  than  I  deserve,  and  my 
little  farm  receives  more  advertising  than  it  is  entitled  to. 
But  I  am  farmer  enough  to  know  that  if  I  cut  down  weeds 
they  will  spring  up  again,  and  I  know  that  if  I  plant  some- 
thing there  which  has  more  vitality  than  the  weeds  I  shall 
not  only  get  rid  of  the  constant  cutting,  but  have  the  benefit 
of  the  crop  besides. 

In  order  that  there  might  be  no  mistake  about  His  plan 
of  propagating  good,  Christ  went  into  detail  and  laid  em- 
phasis upon  the  value  of  example— "so  live  that  others  see- 
ing your  good  works  may  be  constrained  to  glorify  your 
Father  which  is  in  Heaven."  There  is  no  human  influence 
so  potent  for  good  as  that  which  goes  out  from  an  upright 
life.  A  sermon  may  be  answered;  the  arguments  presented 
in  a  speech  may  be  disputed,  but  no  one  can  answer  a  Chris- 
tian life— it  is  the  unanswerable  argument  in  favor  of  our 
religion. 

It  may  be  a  slow  process— this  conversion  of  the  world 
by  the  silent  influence  of  a  noble  example,  but  it  is  the  only 
sure  one,  and  the  doctrine  applies  to  nations  as  well  as  to  in- 
dividuals. The  Gospel  of  the  Prince  of  Peace  gives  us  the 
only  hope  that  the  world  has — and  it  is  an  increasing  hope — 
of  the  substitution  of  reason  for  the  arbitrament  of  force  in 
the  settlement  of  international  disputes. 


THE     PRINCE     OF    PEACE 


But  Christ  has  given  us  a  platform  more  fundamental  than 
any  political  party  has  ever  written.  We  are  interested  in 
platforms;  we  attend  conventions,  sometimes  traveling  long 
distances;  we  have  wordy  wars  over  the  phraseology  of  vari- 
ous planks,  and  then  we  wage  earnest  campaigns  to  secure  the 
indorsement  of  these  platforms  at  the  polls.  But  the  plat- 
form given  to  the  world  by  the  Nazarene  is  more  far-reaching 
and  more  comprehensive  than  any  platform  ever  written  by 
the  convention  of  any  party  in  any  country.  When  He  con- 
densed into  one  commandment  those  of  the  ten  which  relate 
to  man's  duty  toward  his  fellows  and  enjoined  upon  us  the  rule, 
"Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself,"  He  presented  a 
plan  for  the  solution  of  all  the  problems  that  now  vex  society 
or  may  hereafter  arise.  Other  remedies  may  palliate  or  post- 
pone the  day  of  settlement,  but  this  is  all-sufficient  and  the 
reconciliation  which  it  effects  is  a  permanent  one. 

IF  I  were  to  attempt  to  apply  this  thought  to  various  ques- 
tions which  are  at  issue,  I  might  be  accused  of  entering 
the  domain  of  partisan  politics;  but  I  may  safely  apply  it 
to  two  great  problems.  First,  let  us  consider  the  question  of 
capital  and  labor.  This  is  not  a  transient  issue  or  a  local 
one.  It  engages  the  attention  of  the  people  of  all  countries 
and  has  appeared  in  every  age.  The  immediate  need  in  this 
country  is  arbitration,  for  neither  side  to  the  controversy  can 
be  trusted  to  deal  with  absolute  justice,  if  allowed  undisputed 
control ;  but  arbitration,  like  a  court,  is  a  last  resort.  It  would 
be  better  if  the  relations  between  employer  and  employe  were 
such  as  to  make  arbitration  unnecessary.  Just  in  proportion 
as  men  recognize  their  kinship  to  each  other  and  deal  with 
each  other  in  the  spirit  of  brotherhood  will  friendship  and 


THE     PRINCE     OF     PEACE 


harmony  be  secured.  Both  employer  and  employe  need  to 
cultivate  the  spirit  which  follows  from  obedience  to  the  great 
commandment. 


THE  second  problem  to  which  I  would  apply  this  plat- 
form of  peace  is  that  which  relates  to  the  accumula- 
tion of  wealth.  We  cannot  much  longer  delay  consid- 
eration of  the  ethics  of  money-making.  That  many  of  the 
enormous  fortunes  which  have  been  accumulated  in  the  last 
quarter  of  a  century  are  now  held  by  men  who  have  given  to 
society  no  adequate  service  in  return  for  the  money  secured 
is  now  generally  recognized.  While  legislation  can  and  should 
protect  the  public  from  predatory  wealth,  a  more  effective 
remedy  will  be  found  in  the  cultivation  of  a  public  opinion 
which  will  substitute  a  higher  ideal  than  the  one  which  toler- 
ates the  enjoyment  of  unearned  gains.  No  man  who  really 
knows  what  brotherly  love  is  will  desire  to  take  advantage  of 
his  neighbor,  and  the  conscience  when  not  seared  will  admon- 
ish against  injustice.  My  faith  in  the  future  rests  upon  the 
belief  that  Christ's  teachings  are  being  more  studied  today 
than  ever  before  and  that  with  this  larger  study  will  come  an 
application  of  those  teachings  to  the  everyday  life  of  the  world. 
In  former  times  men  read  that  Christ  came  to  bring  life  and 
immortality  to  light  and  placed  the  emphasis  upon  immortal- 
ity; now  they  are  studying  Christ's  relation  to  human  life.  In 
former  years  many  thought  to  prepare  themselves  for  future 
bliss  by  a  life  of  seclusion  here;  now  they  are  learning  that 
they  cannot  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  the  Master  unless  they 
go  about  doing  good.  Christ  declared  that  He  came  that  we 
might  have  life  and  have  it  more  abundantly.  The  world  is 


THE     PRINCE     OF    PEACE 


learning  that  Christ  came  not  to  narrow  life  but  to  enlarge  it 
— to  fill  it  with  purpose,  earnestness  and  happiness. 

But  this  Prince  of  Peace  promises  not  only  peace,  but 
strength.  Some  have  thought  His  teachings  fit  only  for  the 
weak  and  the  timid  and  unsuited  to  men  of  vigor,  energy  and 
ambition.  Nothing  could  be  farther  from  the  truth.  Only 
the  man  of  faith  can  be  courageous.  Confident  that  he  fights 
on  the  side  of  Jehovah,  he  doubts  not  the  success  of  his  cause. 
What  matters  it  whether  he  shares  in  the  shouts  of  triumph  t 
If  every  word  spoken  in  behalf  of  truth  has  its  influence  and 
every  deed  done  for  the  right  weighs  in  the  final  account,  it  is 
immaterial  to  the  Christian  whether  his  eyes  behold  victory  or 
whether  he  dies  in  the  midst  of  the  conflict. 

Yea,  though  thou  lie  upon  the  dust, 

When  they  who  helped  thee  flee  in  fear, 

Die  full  of  hope  and  manly  trust, 
Like  those  who  fell  in  battle  here. 

Another  hand  thy  sword  shall  wield, 

Another  hand  the  standard  wave, 
Till  from  the  trumpet's  mouth  is  pealed 

The  blast  of  triumph  o'er  thy  grave, 

ONLY  those  who  believe  attempt  the  seemingly  impos- 
sible, and,  by  attempting,  prove  that  one  with  God 
can  chase  a  thousand  and  two  can  put  ten  thousand 
to  flight.     I  can  imagine  that  the  early  Christians  who  were 
carried  into  the  arena  to  make  a  spectacle  for  those  more 
savage  than  the  beasts,  were  entreated  by  their  doubting  com- 
panions not  to  endanger  their  lives.     But,  kneeling  in  the 
center  of  the  arena,  they  prayed  and  sang  until  they  were 


THE    PRINCE    OF    PEACE 


devoured.  How  helpless  they  seemed  and,  measured  by  every 
human  rule,  how  hopeless  was  their  cause!  And  yet  within 
a  few  decades  the  power  which  they  invoked  proved  mightier 
than  the  legions  of  the  emperor,  and  the  faith  in  which  they 
died  was  triumphant  o'er  all  that  land.  It  is  said  that  those 
who  went  to  mock  at  their  sufferings  returned  asking  them- 
selves, "What  is  it  that  can  enter  into  the  heart  of  man  and 
make  him  die  as  these  die?"  They  were  greater  conquerors 
in  their  death  than  they  could  have  been  had  they  purchased 
life  by  a  surrender  of  their  faith. 

What  would  have  been  the  fate  of  the  church  if  the  early 
Christians  had  had  as  little  faith  as  many  of  our  Christians 
now  have?  And,  on  the  other  hand,  if  the  Christians  of  to- 
day had  the  faith  of  the  martyrs,  how  long  would  it  be  be- 
fore the  fulfillment  of  the  prophecy  that  every  knee  shall  bow 
and  every  tongue  confess? 

Our  faith  should  be  even  stronger  than  the  faith  of  those 
who  lived  two  thousand  years  ago,  for  we  see  our  religion 
spreading  and  supplanting  the  philosophies  and  creeds  of  the 
Orient. 


AS  THE  Christian  grows  older  he  appreciates  more  and 
more  the  completeness  with  which  Christ  fills  the  re- 
quirements of  the  heart  and,  grateful  for  the  peace 
which  he  enjoys  and  for  the  strength  which  he  has  received, 
he  repeats  the  words  of  the  great  scholar,  Sir  William  Jones: 

Before  thy  mystic  altar,  heavenly  truth, 
I  kneel  in  manhood,  as  I  knelt  in  youth, 
Thus  let  me  kneel,  till  this  dull  form  decay, 
And  life's  last  shade  be  brightened  by  thy  ray. 


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